Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Charlie - A Fishy Baby Hat

Martha Johnson from Fiddlestyx has some incredible baby designs. These simple silhouettes contain embellishments that elevate these hats to an amazing level. I knew immediately when I saw the Charlie pattern that I needed to make it for my son. Our "nursery" theme is under the sea, so our first born absolutely needs a fishy hat!

I selected KnitPicks Comfy Worsted in Ivory (42 yards), Light Blue (29 yards) and Planetarium (33 yards) for this hat. I wanted to start off knitting a few of the fish embellishments as recommended in the pattern so I could make sure the stripes were the correct width later on. I knit these fishies on size 2 (2.75 mm) knitting needles. (After spending so much time knitting fish for my tessellated fish blanket, it feels funny to be making a fish in Planetarium again!) I used p2tog-tbl and SSK where needed to make the decreases more symmetrical on the fish.

I don't always test gauge for baby hats, but I decided to test out my gauge to see whether I wanted to use size 5 or size 6 needles for the body of the hat. With size 6 needles, I got 11 sts/2" over stockinette, but easily stretches to the desired gauge of 5 sts/inch. I will stick with size 6 (4.0 mm) needles.

I am knitting the 0-6 month size hat because my baby is likely going to be a big one and this way the hat will likely fit him for some portion of time! (13" around). Since my gauge is a little small, it should fit him as a newborn. I will try to knit a bit loose to increase my gauge.

Notes from Construction

Stripe 1 - 8 rows completed rows (inc CO) to get to 1.25"

Each fish is about 1" wide at the widest point, so 1.5" stripes should be sufficient.

Stripe 2 (dark blue) - 10 knit rounds after the purl round.

Stripe 3 (light blue) - 10 knit rounds after the purl round.

9 rows of cream before starting the top shaping. The hat measures 5.5" total with brim rolled out.

After the top shaping, the hat measures 7" long with the brim rolled out. 6" with the brim rolled up. and 6" wide.

Each fish is 1.5" wide. I think that I will want 5 fish for each row and then 2 of each color for the topper, which would be 7 of each fish. We'll see what I think about the placement once I have them made.

Sewing the fish to the hat was a bit laborious because I wanted to make sure to have even placement. I found it was best to pin the fish to the stripe before starting any sewing.

The second row was much easier, since I placed them in the other direction between the fish from the first row.

For the ties at the top of the hat, I decided to make a crochet chain with double strand of the cream yarn and a size D hook. Icords can be pretty, but I'm not sure if it would really add something to this project. I pulled the double strand of yarn through the top of the hat, tied it and then chained 2-2.5" before sewing the fish to the chain.

I am so happy with this finished hat, it is perfect for a coming home outfit for my little boy!

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